"Oh, so you wanna have it too, huh? Why can't you guys get enough of me?" SmileyX drawled, his voice dropping into a cold, bloodthirsty tone that would make a chill run down even a Lich's spine. "Alright." He reached a small, cylindrical leather pouch, inexplicably attached to the back of his buckle, and pulled out a gladiator net. I don't know how it fitted in there, but this is an Isekai world where physics somehow didn't exist. So, whatever. He threw it upward with amazing speed and accuracy. It spun out, transforming into a perfectly circular net that encased the floating eye with effortless grace.
The eye thrashed, its tentacles flailing in a desperate attempt to break loose, but to no avail. As it descended, its panicked black iris darted frantically left and right. The iris began to glow again, a sickly yellow light. "No, you don't!" SmileyX snarled. He leaped with unexpected agility, thrusting his black gladius into the very middle of the floating eye with a crazy, calculated lunge, anchoring it to the ground. Splat! Eye juices sprayed everywhere—onto the surrounding lab floor, and onto Smiley himself. "So much for an Ancient Beholder load of crap," he scoffed, pulling out his gladius, then proceeded to smash it with his mace and stab it a dozen more times, clearly enjoying the fountain of monster juice.
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Tinman cheered like an avid fan at a gladiatorial match, his voice booming.
"Savages," the Wizzard muttered, utterly disgusted. He looked much better now, no longer pale, perhaps having recovered some mana. "Get your scroll of Town Portals ready! Let's get out of here while we still can, and with our equipment intact!" he shouted, his voice regaining its usual sharpness.
"Hey, you're spoiling the show with your constant whining! Can't you see it's already dead? Do you understand 'dead'? D E... D, wait. D A... D E." Tinman looked down at his gauntlets as if counting rather than spelling, murmuring to himself as he struggled to find the letters he wanted.
"Get your bok-bok-bok ready!" SmileyX mocked, mimicking the Wizzard and a chicken at the same time, his hands planted on his hips, elbows flapping wildly. He flapped and clucked, ridiculing the Wizzard's warning. "Waste a 10,000 gold scroll for nothing, bok bok bok. You should be bok bok called Yellow Wizzard, not Red, bok bok!"
10,000 gold for a Town Portal scroll? Whoa, that's seriously overrated. I remembered Diablo 2—those things were worth just a few gold coins. The economics of this world was whack.
"Suit yourself," the Wizzard sighed, raising his staff. He mumbled something, and then a well-polished wooden chest appeared out of thin air in front of him. It opened, and a scroll of Town Portal levitated out, which he promptly snatched. The chest blinked out of existence. "I saved a bunch of ungrateful whack jobs," he muttered to himself, clearly annoyed.
Tinman, watching SmileyX's chicken impersonation, laughed uncontrollably. He fell onto the ground, holding his stomach, tears streaming down his face.
"Should've listened to Adelaide. You guys are hopeless." The Wizzard removed the tie from the Town Portal scroll, and it spread wide, glowing with a shimmering blue, dimensional color. "Die for all I care," he muttered, reaching out to the scroll. A small blast of light erupted, imploded into nothingness as the surroundings seemed to ripple, and he was gone.
"Bye, Chicken! Bok bok! Now, where was I?" SmileyX was still doing his chicken dance. He looked towards my last known location and, with a sudden stop, noticed that I was clearly missing. Of course I ran while they were busy, I thought. Why would I stay there and fight a lunatic? Not Kiko, nuh-uh.
"Yeah, bye, Chicken," Tinman waved goodbye to their estranged teammate. "Hey, where'd he go?" He looked around, scratching his full helm in confusion, clearly wondering where I'd vanished to.
"Ooh," SmileyX giggled in glee. "I love games! How does he know? Hide-and-go-seek was my favorite!" he said in a playfully crazy tone that made my blood run cold.
"Oh, hide-and-go-seek! Hey, can I join? Please, please, pretty pleaseeeee!?" Tinman asked, pressing both hands together, begging his crazy partner.
"Of course you can, you've been a good boy!" SmileyX clapped his hands, then began to dance as he started to look for me. "You go that way," he pointed to the right wing of the Science Lab. "I'll go here," he said, pointing to the left wing—my general direction—with his thumb. Man, the instincts on this guy are nuts, I thought. But sorry, crazy dude, I'm in shadow mode, and feel free to try. I welcome the attempt.
Tinman ran to the right wing, both hands up, shouting, "Yieeee!" His armor clanked and clanged, making a ruckus as he dashed off.
SmileyX did a spin like a ballerina, then continued to dance like one, but in an awkward, inflexible way. He strode with a bizarre grace, like the black swan man in a weird outfit.
"Uuuuwaaaauu!" A loud howl echoed from the top, resonating through the lab floor. Oh quack, I totally forgot about the Beholder! Then more floating eyes descended from the opening like a swarm of drones, breaking the status quo of the moment.
"Oh, more of you, huh?" SmileyX said, unimpressed, looking up at the new arrivals. "Wait for a moment, and I'll come find you later, kekeke," he laughed maniacally. Then, his head snapped towards my direction. A cold sweat brewed on my forehead. Man, this dude is giving me the shivers. Does he know where I am? Does he have a tracking skill?
I needed to escape, but how? The only clear exit was the main entrance, and the Ancient Beholder was up there, likely guarding it. I couldn't risk being attacked while climbing out. My Hood of Shadow's skill only activated in dark environments, and this place, while gloomy, wasn't pitch black. Fight? Nope, that was a terrible idea. I couldn't team up with those two lunatics—there was no guarantee they wouldn't kill me after we took down the monsters. Plus, the only one who kept them on a leash had just teleported away.
Explosions echoed across the lab floor as the newly arrived floating eyes shot laser beams down at the duo. SmileyX dodged with unnatural finesse, while Tinman deflected the beams with his tower shield, the impacts ringing loudly.
My mind calculated: Option 1: Let them get exhausted and then take them out. Option 2: Let the monsters take them down and wait it out in the shadows. Both seemed like sound, if morally questionable, ways to go about my current situation. Okay, let's watch for now, I told myself, melting deeper into the confines of the shadows.